60th Anniversary Gala Concert

2016Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House

You remember the moment.

Your first opera. The person you went with. The thrill of getting a great seat,
or landing a standing room ticket. The orchestra tuning. The swish of a curtain. The
first notes of the overture. The sound of one of the great stars, voice
soaring over the auditorium.

Over 60 years of bringing great opera to Australia, millions of people have
had that moment.

Against all odds, in a place thousands of kilometres from where opera began, Opera
Australia has grown into the third-busiest opera company in the world.

We want to celebrate with the people that made it possible: you.

Four incredible maestros lead a program of beautiful music at a Gala Concert
featuring our biggest stars, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and
the Opera Australia Chorus—with a special appearance by many of the greatest
stars of the past singing in a special 60th Anniversary Chorale.

Nicole Car, José Carbó, Emma Matthews, Milijana Nikolic and Diego
Torre inherited the legacy of Sutherland, Carden and so many outstanding singers.
Now you have the chance to hear these exhilarating performers singing some of
opera’s grandest arias.

We invite you to come and relive the moment that made you fall in love with
opera. Every ticket sold will help Opera Australia make more of those moments,
for 60 more years and beyond.

Image: Bettina Benfield (Cherubino), John Shaw (The Count), and Valda Bagnall
(Susanna) in an amusing scene from The Marriage of Figaro, the opening opera
of the Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company’s Mozart Season at the Elizabethan
Theatre on 12 January 1957